A radio control device for radio control of target objects to be controlled, such as airplanes, helicopters and the like, includes a manipulation unit such as a stick lever to control the target objects by actuate a driving source such as an engine or the like, or a servo motor to drive a key or the like. Depending on the kinds of target objects to be controlled (e.g., airplanes, gliders, helicopters and the like), roles (control targets) assigned to manipulation units and manipulation properties of manipulation units (e.g., relationships between manipulations for control of the control targets and movements of the control targets) are varied.
Specifically, the phrase “roles assigned to manipulation units” indicates the control targets assigned to the manipulation units, for example, which stick levers respectively are assigned for controls of an aileron and a rudder. Further, the phrase “manipulation properties of manipulation units” indicates, e.g., a relationship between a manipulation of a stick lever to control a servo motor and a movement of a rudder driven by the servo motor.
For example, this relationship may be a linear proportional relationship or a quadratic functional relationship. The roles assigned to manipulation units and the manipulation properties of the manipulation units are typically varied depending on use purposes of target objects to be controlled (for example, whether the target objects are for use in contest or industry) or, e.g., running purposes of competitive games (for example, whether the contest is regular contest or speed contest). Information required for control of the target objects, such as the roles assigned to manipulation units and the manipulation properties of the manipulation units, is generally referred to as “model data.”
If one radio control device is used to control two or more target objects to be controlled, it is common that model data for the target objects are prepared and beforehand stored in a memory of the radio control device, model data corresponding to a target object to be controlled are called from the memory and set in the device, and the target object are controlled under appropriate conditions,
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-233725 discloses a radio control device which is capable of randomly changing model data in association with target objects. The radio control device disclosed in the above-cited reference includes a radio control transmitter capable of easily setting and changing target objects. This radio control transmitter stores setting information related to relationships between manipulation contents of, e.g., a stick lever and a switch lever and operation contents of target objects. If a user turns on a power switch by pressing one of three direct buttons, a setting information associated with each direct button is read. As a result, the user can change settings when turning on the radio control device and immediately start the control of a desired target object.
However, in the above conventional radio control device, there is a problem of complicated operation of associating any model data with a target object to be controlled and storing such association in the device. In addition, even when a user is willing to perform such complicated operation to store the association between model data and names of target objects in a memory of the device, if the user attempts to call a model data corresponding to a desired target object from the memory, table-form information in which model names and model data of target objects are associated with each other is displayed on a display of the device and the user is required to select model data by referring to the table-form information. Accordingly, if the user cannot remember the name or model number of the desired target object, it is difficult to immediately select the model data corresponding to the target object.
In this regard, for easy access to a relationship between model data and target objects to be controlled using the model data, the present inventors have proposed a radio control device using an external storage medium which stores image data of target objects. According to a system using this radio control device, a user first obtains image data of a target object by means of a digital camera and then installs an external storage medium storing the image data in the radio control device. This radio control device can display the image data stored in the installed external storage medium as an image and store model data selected from the device and the image data of the displayed image in an internal memory in association therebetween.
Accordingly, after such association between the image data and the model data is set, the external storage medium is installed in the device. Then, the image data are displayed on a display unit and a target object to be controlled is selected based on the displayed image data. As a result, it is possible to call model data corresponding to the selected target object from the internal memory and set the called model data in the device.
However, the above proposed radio control device requires a separate digital camera for acquiring image data of target objects. In addition, the image data acquired by the digital camera need to be stored in the above-described external storage medium so that the image data can be read in the radio control device. In this case, if the digital camera employs an external storage medium that is different from that of the radio control device, there is a need to store the image data of the digital camera in the external storage medium of the radio control device via a personal computer. In addition, if the image data of the digital camera is not compatible with the radio control device, when the image data of the digital camera are transferred to the external storage medium of the radio control device via the personal computer, there is a need to convert the image data of the digital camera into a format that is readable by the radio control device.
As described above, the above proposed radio control device requires the digital camera and the personal computer additionally and has a problem of complicated operation of associating target object model data with a target object to be controlled.